| | | Celebrating the success of the 2023 January Intake |
| | On 13 December, AIMS South Africa celebrated the success of 20 students (including 14 South Africans) from the January 2023 intake at a Recognition of Achievement Ceremony held at the Centre. |
| | In his welcome address, Dr Ulrich Paquet, Director of AIMS noted, “Today we celebrate with you, acknowledging how incredibly hard you have all worked, the new friendships you have made and that your minds have been stretched is so many new ways. |
|
|
| It is said that human minds once stretched can never regain their original dimensions, so it is my hope that during your year at AIMS your minds have been stretched in so many ways that you leave AIMS with enriched minds and as such a richer person than when you arrived.” |
| | |
|
|
| Topology for Tomorrow workshop (T4T2023) |
| | | | | A workshop for the new generation of South African topologists, was held at AIMS South Africa from 8 to 11 December 2023. The aim of the workshop was to contribute to building a cohort of future topology researchers who will work together and build further international partnerships. |
|
| The 40 Participants included postgraduate students and young academics from across South Africa. | | |
|
|
| | | | | On 15 December, AIMS was honoured to receive the visit of Professors Jude Kong and Bruce Mellado. Prof. Kong is an assistant professor at York University and the founding director of the Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC). He is also the leader of the One Health Modelling Network for Emerging Infections (OMNI) Early Warning Signals Network and a member of the Canadian Black Scientist Network, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Mathematics for Public Health Network, the Canadian Centre for Disease Modelling, and the Canadian COVID-19 Modelling Rapid Response Task Force. Prof. Mellado is a Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, a Senior Researcher at iThemba LABS and serves as the Director of the Institute for Collider Particle Physics. |
| | This visit was organised by Dr Claire David (previously assistant professor at York University before joining AIMS South Africa full time as academic director of the AI For Science Master’s). |
|
|
| It was a surprise for the students, who knew about the work of Prof. Kong and had no idea he would be here in person. Profs. Kong and Mellado first had a chat with the AI For Science students. After a poignant motivational speech by Prof. Kong, hailing from Cameroon, the students could ask questions. In the evening, Prof. Kong gave a seminar to the students from both Master’s streams titled “Deciding Between Industry or Academia: Navigating Career Paths for Math Students and Securing a PhD Position.’ The talk was extremely well received and there were numerous questions at the end, with a group of students staying to discuss more specifically about internship opportunities. Prof. Jude was impressed too: “Your enthusiasm and commitment have truly left a lasting impression.” he shared in a follow-up email. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| | | | | On 9 December, the AIMSSEC team, together with the students participating in the online Mathematical Thinking (MT5) and the Mathematics, Skills and Competencies for Employment (MSCE), held a closing ceremony in celebration of their successful completion. A special thanks to our 78 students, Dr Ulrich Paquet, the Director of AIMS South Africa, Prof Kerstin Jordaan, our guest speaker and Executive Director of the South African Mathematics Foundation . | |
|
| | (SAMF), Toni Beardon, the founder of AIMSSEC, and lecturers and tutors for a memorable closing ceremony. | | | We wish all our students well and thank them for their hard work! | |
|
|
| | | On 6 December 2023, Dr Sinobia Kenny of AIMSSEC met with Dr Sophie Marques from the mathematics department at Stellenbosch University. The two shared their passion for changing the negative stigma of mathematics to one that shows accessibility to all. While Sophie shared her ideas of unlocking the potentiality of mathematics through a transdisciplinary narrative, Sinobia spoke about her determination to share the lived experiences of people who ‘do’ mathematics on the African continent. |
| |
|
| | Both Sophie and Sinobia were keen to collaborate on the human side of mathematics. For further information about transforming mathematics and academia , see https://wisaarkhu.co.za/. |
| |
|
|
| | | | On 12 December, Dean Blackburn a Master’s student at Stellenbosch University, supervised by Dr Emmanuel Dufourq and Dr Lorène Jeantet and a member of the Machine Learning for |
|
|
| Ecology Group in the AIMS Research Centre presented the results of his Master’s thesis titled: ‘Convolutional neural network filter selection using genetic algorithms.’ |
|
|
|
| | | Teaching tip for lecturers! |
| | | One-two-four-more is a great teaching strategy to facilitate discussions among students, particularly for those who are too shy to share their thinking in a lecture. Rather than begin discussions as a whole class and expect students to answer questions as individuals, the lecturer can ask students to share their ideas in pairs. After a few minutes, allow two pairs to share ideas as a four-some. One person in the group of four is chosen to provide feedback to the whole class. |
| |
|
|
| | | | | | Applications for the 2024/25 intake of the AIMS Structured Master’s in Mathematical Sciences are now open. Applicants should hold, or anticipate completing by the start date of the AIMS course, a 4-year university degree in mathematics, or any science or engineering subject with a significant mathematics component. |
| | | | | | | | | | Potential supervisors of AIMS South Africa structured Master's students are invited to submit research project topics. |
| | Proposal submissions close on 1 February, but are reviewed by AIMS staff as they are submitted and so may be released earlier. |
| | | |
|
| | Applications for the AI for Science Master’s Stream 2024/25 are now open. It is a fully residential one-year taught Master's with a research component. Applications are open to students from across Africa who are passionate about mathematics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. |
| | Please note the application process for the AI for Science Master’s stream is different from the standard AIMS Master’s. |
| | | | | | | | | | ⏰14:00 PM - 16:00 PM (Lecture, Panel Discussion & Refreshments) |
| | | | | 📌6 Melrose Road, Muizenberg, Cape Town 7950 |
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
